Love Don't Come Easy
by toledo girl
Summary: Margaret thought that she and Donald loved each other, but that turned out to be a one sided relationship. After having her heart broken time and time again, someone else steps up to show her what it feels like to actually have someone care for her. H/M
1. A Meaningless Band

Chapter 1: A Meaningless Band

Margaret had just recently received the letter from Donald that was originally for Darlene and she had sent the letter to "Hank". Today she was going to meet him over in Tokyo. She had already had her hotel room and woke up to silent, sun filled room. Sighing, she got up and walked towards the dresser while thoughts of doubt flooded her mind.

_"Oh, you'll get a laugh out of this. To my dearest Darlene, it has been so long since I last saw you walking on the moonlit beach as the waves go whoosh,"_

"Donald." "Oh, I'm sure it was another Donald."

Margaret held back tears as she finished getting dressed and sat down to put on her make up. "This can't be the way it's supposed to work," she said softly to herself. Deep down, she truly believed that. A marriage was supposed to be two people promising to always love each other, and this situation was certainly not a display of love.

O o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Donald woke up early, just a few rooms down from Margaret without knowing that she was even there. He groggily turned over and let out a yawn. Before him, lay a young girl with shoulder length brown hair. Donald gently put his hand on her shoulder causing her to slightly stir and then open her eyes to let out a yawn.

"Good morning honey," she said as she turned over and wrapped her arms around him.

"Good morning Darlene," he replied right before planting a small kiss on her forehead.

"I had fun last night," Darlene stated with a smile that lead to a kiss between the two.

"So did I but remember my wife? I'm supposed to meet her today for breakfast so you better get dressed and leave," Donald explained as he removed himself from her embrace.

"Why? Is she coming here?" Darlene asked. She sat up and watched him as he got out of bed and started hurrying to get dressed.

"No. I don't know where she's staying. We're meeting at the cafe over by the airport in an hour," Donald answered.

O o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Out in the hallway Margaret stepped out of her room. She sighed and slowly closed the door behind her before leaning her back against it. "Why does it have to be this way?" she quietly questioned herself.

The sound of a door opening caught her attention. She soon wished that she would have never looked though, for before her was the scene of her husband kissing another woman. Tears swelled in her eyes as she watched the scene before her. The girl walked down to the elevator and Donald walked back into his room, as if nothing had happened. . Margaret just stood there frozen as she remembered their wedding day. Tears now streaming down her face she went back into her room and sat down as she stared at herself in the mirror. She didn't know whether to be more mad at the fact that he was cheating on her, or that he was too into the other woman to even notice his wife standing in the hallway. "Enough of this," she said sternly to herself as she cleaned her face.

Margaret went over to her bed and grabbed her suitcase. There was no way that she was about to stand here and be treated like some rag doll that could just be tossed aside. She had come out here to try and work things out, and with what she had just witnessed, it was quite evident that he wasn't going to be trying at all.

As she rushed out the door, Donald, who was going down to meet up with her, stepped out the door and saw her. He knew that she was upset, so it was obvious to him that she must have found something out about last night. "Wait! Margaret!" he called after her.

Margaret could hear him but didn't care and just kept on walking. Donald ran towards her and caught up to her by the elevator where she had to wait for a minute.

"Margaret," he said grabbing her shoulder. "Why are you here? And why are you ignoring me?" he asked, trying to convince her that he had no idea what was going on.

Margaret quickly turned to him and glared at him."I saw you with her," she sternly announced.

"With who?" he questioned, trying not to seem nervous.

"Does it really matter Donald? We came here to work out our problems! Not to pretend that we're not married! I came here to be with you, but instead I find you with some girl that you probably don't even know!" Margaret angrily yelled. She then looked down to her wedding before she took it off and held it up. "See this? This was our marriage," she explained, and then threw it on the ground. "Now it's just a meaningless band. The way you wanted it."

Donald stood there and stared down at the ring as Margaret silently awaited the elevator's arrival. Once it got there and the door opened, she started to get on, but then stopped and turned to him, catching his attention. "And I was about to tell you that I was pregnant with what I hoped was your first child too," she flatly announced before leaving.

Donald stood there dumbly as he watched her leave.


	2. Returning

Chapter 2: Returning

Margaret's jeep pulled up in front of her tent and stopped. "Thank you," she said softly as she got out of the jeep and grabbed her bags.

Hawkeye, was walking passed, saw her and caught up to her. "Hey, Margaret, how was your trip?" he asked. He could tell that she was upset, but was hoping to hear that it was over something that happened on her way back, rather than something that had happened with Donald.

"Good," she stiffly answered before storming into her tent.

Hawkeye stood there as the door was practically slammed in his face and then went to knock. He knew that it wasn't such a good idea to bother her now, but he wanted to let her know that he was there if she needed him. "Margaret?" he called out as he knocked.

"What is it?" she angrily responded as she stood before her cot, beginning to unpack.

"May I come in?" he questioned.

"Leave me alone!" she answered.

Hawkeye heard her tell him to leave, but came in anyways.

Margaret quickly wheeled around. "Pierce! What are you doing in here! Get out!" she ordered.

"Margaret! Why don't you tell me what's wrong?" Hawkeye calmly asked, despite her yelling.

"Because there is nothing!" she sharply snapped.

"You're telling me that you take three days off to go to Tokyo so you can talk too your husband who's been cheating on you, and then you come back two days early and as mad as can be and nothings wrong?" he questioned. There was something wrong, something deeply wrong here. He already knew that it had to do with Donald. If it were about something that happened while she was on the plane or something she would have complained about the idiots that lost her luggage or screwed up something with her passes.

Margaret was getting to her last ounce patience left and desperately wanted him to leave. "Fine. You wanna hear it! Ohho, you'll just love this one. I go there to meet with him, we don't know we're staying in the same hotel and I see him kissing a girl good bye right outside of his door. There! You happy now!" she yelled close to tears. Out of embarrassment, she turned away from him and casually walked towards her dresser with a few of her shirts, as if she were just putting them away.

Hawkeye's face softened. "No. No I'm not happy," he replied as he began walking towards her.

"Why not? You got your story," she bitterly responded.

"Yeah, but it didn't have a happy ending," he explained.

Margaret briefly closed her eyes and made sure that there were no tears ready to fall. "You wanna hear the worst part of it?" she questioned as she cautiously turned around to face him.

"He chose her?" he guessed.

"I'm pregnant. I got tested the day before I met with him," she angrily announced. The tears that she held back before were now about to fall again.

Hawkeye was taken aback by the news. "I'm sorry, anything I could do?" he offered. There wasn't much that he could actually do for her, but he still had to ask.

"Could you keep this a secret?" she desperately requested. The last thing that she wanted was for everyone to know the situation that she was in and for everyone there to pity her.

"Yeah," he responded.

After a brief moment of silence, Hawkeye turned and started to leave. Margaret just sat down on her cot and waited for him to out the door before she allowed herself to finally cry the tears that she had been holding back for so long.


	3. First Day Back

Chapter 3: First Day Back

The next day, Hawkeye walked into the mess tent to see Margaret sitting by herself blankly staring at her tray of food. He decided to grab his food and then sit with her to see if she was doing any better than she had been yesterday. "I know it's hard to believe, but this stuff is food," he joked as he sat down next to her.

"What?" she asked breaking her gaze and then looked a Hawkeye with confusion.

"I know. Took me a while to figure it out too," he responded before taking a bite.

"Yeah," she lifelessly responded. Ever since she had woken up that morning, she had been out of it. She had figured that she just didn't sleep that well last night.

"You okay?" he questioned with concern. It was pretty easy to tell at this point that there was something wrong. This wasn't the same thing as last night, last night she was mad and hurt and bitter, and now she was just, lifeless. There was no facial expression or anything. It was like she had shut down or something and it was starting to worry him.

"A little sick but that's to be expected," she answered.

Suddenly, there was an announcement that there was wounded. On instinct, the stood shot up. Hawkeye started for the door, but he soon noticed that Margaret wasn't with him. He turned back and saw her standing in her same spot, steadying herself on the table.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked with concern.

Margaret took a second and straightened herself out. It was really no big deal, all that had happened was that she had a dizzy spell. She just didn't want to fall and call attention to herself as she was leaving. "Yeah, I'm fine," she announced as she started to catch up to him.

O o o o o o

The OR was busy with nurses going back and forth to assist the surgeons. Currently, Margaret was assisting Hawkeye.

"How long have we been at it Radar?" Potter asked.

"Seven hours sir," he answered as he peeked at his watch.

"I could have had a full night's sleep by now," Hawkeye informed everyone as he took the scalpel out of Margaret's hand and started to cut.

"When Erin was first born that was two full nights of sleep," B.J. Added.

"Sponges," Hawkeye ordered with his hand held out to Margaret.

Margaret just stood there blankly staring. Her vision begun to blear as the sounds began to merge together and become muffled.

"Margaret, Margaret! I need sponges!" Hawkeye urgently ordered.

Margaret let out a moan before collapsing right onto the floor.

"Beej! Finish up for me!" Hawkeye anxiously called out across the room.

"Okay," BJ answered. He quickly finished up and then looked to Kelleye. "Kelleye could you close up for me?" he requested. As soon as she took over, he rushed over and took over for Hawkeye.

Hawkeye knelt down beside Margaret and picked her up and carried her over to an empty bed over in Post Op. He began to check her vitals as her eyes started to flutter open. She could feel herself beginning to cramp and looked to with fear in her eyes.


	4. All We Need

Chapter 4: All We Need

Hawkeye and Margaret sat in Colonel Potter's office, before his desk. Everyone had questions about what had happened in the OR, but Margaret had a bigger question, she needed to know whether or not she was still pregnant.

"I know what happened yesterday in the OR and I think that maybe I should go to Tokyo," Margaret requested.

"You were just there not to long ago," Potter stated. He knew that there was something going on here, and he wanted to know what it was before he started allowing anyone to leave. Besides, he thought that it may have just been from lack of food and water. That was what Margaret had told everyone yesterday. She said that she was a bit dehydrated and that she hadn't been eating as well as she should have been. He didn't see the need for her to leave for that. There was food and water here.

Hawkeye sighed. He knew that Margaret didn't want him telling anyone, but she wasn't about to, so he needed to tell him. "She thought that was going to have to trade in her boots for booties and after yesterday she got a little scared and thought that she should get it checked out," Hawkeye explained. He looked over to see that Margaret wasn't mad at him and was relieved.

Potter carefully looked to Margaret and thought about it for a moment. "Okay, I'll let you go," he stated.

"Can I come to?" Hawkeye requested.

Margaret rolled her eyes. "Why? So you can go out and invite every woman within ten feet to come to your room?" she questioned.

Hawkeye turned to her. "I'd love to do that. But I won't, I wanna know what's going on," he explained. There was a genuine caring in his eyes, that for some reason, struck Margaret.

"Is he the...," Potter started to ask as he pointed Hawkeye.

"No!" she hastily yelled. "Donald may not have been faithful but I sure as hell was," she explained, defending herself.

Hawkeye knew that she was stressed out, and it was understandable. He really didn't think that she needed to be getting more worked up than she already was. "Can I have a moment alone with Potter?" he asked as he turned to her. Margaret took a moment to think about it before nodding and then getting up and leaving the two alone.

Hakweye waited until he heard the door close and then leaned in before he continued. "Look, I may not be the father if there is a baby but she's going to be there alone and I am concerned," he explained.

Potter sighed. "You do feel strongly about this don't you?" he implored.

Hawkeye leaned back into the chair. "It comes before the war," he answered casually.

"Alright, but come right back," he ordered.

Hawkeye thanked him and then left to go tell Margaret what was going on.

O o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Hawkeye stood in the waiting room by the payphone at the hospital in Tokyo while Margaret was getting examined. She had told him earlier to try and get a hold of Donald. Even if he was an ass to her, he was still the father, and he still deserved to know.

"What do you mean he's not there?" Hawkeye asked. He was starting to get annoyed with this phone call. "He got transferred to the states? When will he get back?" His eyes widened. Instantly, he knew exactly what was going on here. "Got it, thanks," he said in defeat and hung up the phone. "This will make her day," he sarcastically mumbled to himself.

This was not what Margaret needed to hear right now. Her husband left her, he ran away from her. She was up there scared and he was somewhere fooling around, not even thinking about her. Feeling bad for her, he decided to go out and buy her some flowers. They wouldn't fix anything, but it could at least show her that someone cared. Maybe not the most important person did, but he cared.

On his way back to the hospital, one of the store windows caught his eye. In one of the windows, there was a gold, diamond bracelet that caught his eyes.

("It was okay, there was this bracelet in one of the windows. It was gorgeous. It was gold with diamonds," Margaret sighed, "But Donald said it cost too much. To buy for me.")

Hawkeye smiled and went in. He could remember her pointing it out to him. She was right, it was expensive, but the diamonds weren't real, and it wasn't pure gold. It wasn't even one hundred dollars. He decided that he could afford to buy it. It wasn't like he had much that he had to spend the money on.

Once he got back to the hospital, he sat down in the waiting room and wrote out the card. He slipped the bracelet into the envelope and slipped it in with the flowers. As soon as everything was set, he saw Margaret walking over to him.

"How did it go in there?" he questioned as she sat down next to him.

Margaret looked over to him. "I lost it," she sadly announced.

Hawkeye looked down and nodded. He had a feeling that she did. "I'm sorry," he said. Looking over, he saw the flowers and grabbed them to hand to her. "I picked up something for you."

"Thanks," she said taking the flowers. "They're lovely," she commented, trying to smile. While looking at them, she noticed the envelope and pulled it out. When she opened it, the first thing to stick out was the card. "I know everything has gone wrong for you and I am sorry. Remember that bracelet you saw on the way here? I think you deserve it." she read out loud. She then looked in the envelope and pulled out the bracelet. "Thank you, it means a lot to me," she said, smiling at it.

While looking at the bracelet, she remembered what she had told Hawkeye to do. "Did you get a hold of Donald?" she questioned as she placed the bracelet back into the envelope and set it in her purse.

Hawkeye stood up and started to nervously pace the floor. This was the moment that he was hoping to avoid. "No," he choked out.

Margaret suspiciously looked to him. "Why not?" she asked.

Hawkeye stopped pacing and stood before her. "He had been permanently placed in California," he steadily explained.

"Why?" she nervously asked. Hawkeye would not be scared like that for no reason.

"He requested it," he informed her.

"That little!" she started to yell as she stood up. She tried to calm herself down though as she remembered where she was. "Not now in a hospital. Let's get going back." Margaret angrily started for the door with Hawkeye following close behind.


	5. On The Way Back

Chapter 5: On The Way Back

Hawkeye was driving both of them back to the camp. They were not about ten minutes away. Since Margaret had been silent the entire trip, he thought he would take the chance to see if there was anything that she needed to talk about. There had to be something on her mind. "You know, I've got two ears, and see no waiting," he offered.

"You wouldn't understand," she argued without even looking to him. Right now, she just didn't want to talk to anyone.

"Understand what? Losing some one?" he questioned.

Margaret shook her head. "It's not like you ever had a serious relationship," she sharply pointed out to him.

"Hey! I may not have had a serious girlfriend for a while, but I did have a mom who died when I was little. I also had an older brother who I adored that died when I was twelve," he snapped back. The last comment had deeply offended him. It shouldn't have, it wasn't something that she was supposed to know off hand, but it did.

Margaret looked over to him with disbelief. "I'm sorry, I didn't know," she said. Now she was wishing that she wouldn't have said anything at all.

"No. You've had a rough time. I shouldn't had snapped at you, you just lost a baby," he responded. He felt bad for her, and snapping at her didn't exactly soothe his conscience.

Margaret just sat there, thinking. She was thinking about what she had just said. Thinking about all that had just happened to her. It was all starting to hit her. "You know he couldn't care less," Margaret said softly to herself turning away from Hawkeye to hide that she might cry. "I get married to him, I promise to be faithful and to love him no matter what," she explained.

Hawkeye pulled the jeep over and looked to her.

"I told him about the baby and he runs away. To him I was some one his parents could be proud of," she said.

Hawkeye sat there, not able to do anything about the situation that she was in. He could tell her that it was going to be okay, but that wouldn't mean anything now. Right now, he was doing all that he could do, be there for her. This right now was the first time that he saw the tears actually fall from her eyes. Leaning over, he embraced her. He held her as she cried. It didn't fix anything, but it let her know that she was not alone.


	6. Final Decisions

Chapter 6: Final Decisions

Together, the two walked into Colonel Potter's office and stood there before his desk. They caught his attention, causing him to look up from his paper work that was sprawled out on the desk before him. "How'd everything go?" he asked, examining both their faces.

Hawkeye and Margaret briefly exchanged glances, like they were trying to figure out which one of them should tell him. Margaret sighed and looked to him. "I was, and I lost it," she flatly announced to him.

"I'm sorry," Potter hoarsely stated .

Margaret nodded with a small, forced, smile. "Thank you Colonel," she responded. "Now if you'll please excuse me, I'd like to be alone right now."

Potter nodded to her, excusing her from the room. As soon as Margaret was out the door, Hawkeye sat down and heavily sighed.

"How'd she take it when she found out?" Potter inquired. He didn't mean to be nosy, he was just concerned.

"She wouldn't admit it but she looked like she had been crying a bit," Hawkeye started. "She'll be fine she just had a rough day," he assured the older man. This was something that was definite. He knew Margaret, and he knew that she could get through a lot, it was just a matter of time. He did, however, feel that he should tell him about what happened with Donald. "When we got to the hospital she asked me to call Donald who secretly behind her back went and requested a transfer to California, right after he found out about the baby," he explained.

"Damn," Potter said under his breath. After everything that she had been through, he hated hearing about something like that.

"I know. And I thought I was afraid of commitment," Hawkeye remarked.

O o o o o o o o o o o o

Margaret sat in her tent, looking at her bracelet. She knew that Donald didn't care anymore. There was a question nagging at her though, how long had it been since he last cared? Had he ever cared about her? Most likely, no.

Then there was the fact that he wasn't even happy about the baby. Yes, she knew that it was hard to be happy about having a baby during a war while you and your spouse are going to be in two different countries half way across the world. That is a hard one, but, he didn't even come after her. Once she told him everything, all he did was stand there and watch her leave.

Hawkeye was there though. She and Hawkeye never even dated, and he was there for her. He was the one that waited for her in the hospital, he was the one that held her as she cried, and he was the one who knew more than everyone else now. Why couldn't Donald do that? Was it really that hard for him to even pretend to care?

Margaret sighed as she looked at the picture of her and Donald on their honeymoon. It was a reminder of something that she thought they had, but actually never had.

Margaret got up and went over to grab a piece of paper to write him a letter. That was the only way, she figured, that she would ever get to communicate with him anymore.

_Dear Donald,_

_I know what happened at that hotel. I also know what you did. You ran away. How could you? I tell you I'm pregnant and you run away! Maybe it was because you had been caught. Either way, what you did hurt me. I lost the baby. Today I needed you more than ever and you weren't there. Instead a surgeon who doesn't even really care about me was there. The sad thing was, was that he seemed to care more then you ever would. I wanted to know, if you weren't ready for marriage why did you propose? Was it a joke that went wrong? If you didn't want to get married you shouldn't have proposed. That would have hurt a lot less than what has happened during the last few days. I think maybe we should get a divorce._

_sincerely,_

_Margaret Penobscot_

_P.S._

_Penobscot will soon be changed back to Houlihan._

Margaret sat there and reread the letter over, making sure that she didn't leave anything out. Once she knew that it was perfect, she got it mailed. It would be three weeks before she got a response.

Margaret was standing in front of her tent examining the letter, the one that Donald had sent her. There was a certain anxiety that came with opening the letter. The way that the rest of her life would go was contained on that one piece of paper. If he agreed to a divorce, then she would officially be done with her first marriage, if he said no, they would separate for a while and then try and work things out later. Either way though, she felt that they would still end up getting divorced sooner or later.

Hawkeye was walking passed her tent and noticed her just standing out there with the sealed letter. "Who's the letter from?" he casually asked as he stopped before her.

"Donald," she answered nervously. Her eyes were still fixated on the envelope.

"Want me to read it for you?" he offered.

Margaret shook her head. "No I think I can read it. I think I'd like to be alone when I read it. I'll talk to you later," she instructed and then turned and headed into her tent.

_Dear Margaret,_

_I ran away because I was scared. Not because you caught me or because of the baby I was just plain scared. I'm sorry about the baby. I know I should have been there but I don't think that I could have handled it. To let you know at the time I proposed to you I was ready for marriage. It was after we got married that I found out I couldn't handle it. I think we should get a divorce. Maybe it's for the best._

_from,_

_Donald_

Margaret just sat there in disbelief. Part of her felt that he was truly scared, but, she knew that he was lying about not being able to handle the loss of the baby. He never wanted a baby, all it was was something to keep him tied to her.

After soaking in the letter, Margaret went over to the mess tent to see if Hawkeye was there to talk to him. Stepping into the place, she spotted him sitting next to BJ and went over to join them.

"Hi Margaret," Hawkeye greeted.

BJ looked over and smiled to her. "Hello Margaret," he said.

Margaret didn't even take the time to return the greetings. She had something that she had to tell them and wanted to get it over with. "I read the letter I got from Donald," she announced.

BJ was lost. He could see the sadness on Margaret's face and the look of concern on Hawkeye's. The last few weeks, the two had been talking more and more. "What happened?" BJ implored, hoping to get included into the conversation, rather than having to sit there and ignore them.

Margaret knew that she could trust BJ, and it wasn't fair to sit there and not include him in a conversation going on right in front of him. "Is Charles still in your guy's tent?" Margaret asked.

"No, he's on duty for another hour," Hawkeye answered.

"Good. Can I talk to the both of you privately there?" she questioned as she looked between the two.

BJ looked over to Hawkeye once more and saw him nod. "Sure," B.J. answered.

All three got up and went over to the swamp. Once they got inside B.J. sat on his cot and Margaret stood by Hawkeye's cot while Hawkeye went over to the still and started to pour a drink. "Can I offer anyone a drink?" he offered.

Margaret nodded and extended her hand. She needed something to get through what she was about to tell BJ. Even just telling Hawkeye what the letter said was going to be hard, not as hard as it should have been though. Ever since she came back from Tokyo, mad at Donald, she and Hawkeye had grown closer and closer. In a way, that scared her. Allowing someone else into her life was not all that common for her. It made her vulnerable, and weak, both things that she tried to always avoid.

After receiving her drink, she sat down on the cot and took a gulp. "Before I tell you about the letter I think we should get B.J. caught up," Margaret suggested.

Hawkeye agreed with her before sitting down next to her.

"How much did I miss? B.J. asked.

"A lot," Hawkeye answered.

Margaret took another drink as she gathered her words together. She had to figured out exactly what she had to tell him, and stick to that. For some reason, anything else seemed dangerous. "When I went to give the lecture to the 8063rd with Pierce and we spent the night in the abandoned hut I had received a letter from Donald that started with dear Darlene," she started. Sighing, she looked down for a moment and then looked back up and caught eye contact with BJ.

"When I went to Tokyo I was going to try to straighten things out between us. When I get there I found out that I was pregnant. The next day I found him kissing another girl so I came back here early." Margaret had to stop momentarily. She had been going somewhat fast to get everything over with, but she was still getting upset. The mere memories of it all made her want to rip Donald apart, scream at him at the top of her lungs, make him pay for what he had done to her. There was nothing though, nothing that she could do anymore, and that made her feel worse than ever.

"When I had collapsed, I lost the baby and when I tried to get a hold of Donald I found out that he requested to be permanently transferred to California. A little while ago I sent him letter that asked if we should get a divorce. He says yes," she explained. Although it was hard to tell anyone else what she had just told him, she did feel better. She wasn't so alone.

"I'm sorry," B.J. sincerely apologized. He was just trying to process everything that he had just heard.

"It feels like that's all any one says to me anymore," Margaret responded.


	7. Face To Face

Chapter 7: Face To Face

Margaret stood in her tent as she packed her bags to head down to Tokyo in the morning. Donald had agreed to fly out so that the two could work out a settlement. They didn't own much, but Donald had the bank account tied up, and most of that money was her's, and she wanted it.

"Who is it?" she called out, upon hearing a knock at the door.

"Your favorite doctor," he called back.

Margaret sighed. She didn't even have to ask who it was. "Come in," she called back.

Hawkeye entered the room and made his way over to join her by her cot. "I just wanted to wish you luck," he stated as he looked down at the clothes that were laid out on the cot before them.

"Thank you," she sourly replied, without even looking up to him. It wasn't that she didn't like him there with her, or that she was particularly irritated with him, she just wasn't looking forward to tomorrow at all. If anything, she wanted to just be able to pack and then go to bed and get everything over with. Hopefully, this was the last time that she ever had to see Donald.

Hawkeye thought for a moment and then laid his hand on her shoulder. He felt her pause, but she didn't pull away, so he was good. "I was wondering if you wanted me to come with you," he offered.

She slowly turned to face him. The two stared into each others eyes for a moment. After she realized what they were doing, the contact, the closeness between them right now, she quickly turned back away. "Why?" she flatly asked, pretending to be going over the items to be packed.

Hawkeye shrugged. "I don't know. Some people like the idea of support," he replied.

"I can handle myself," she answered sternly, as if shrugging him off.

"Hey, I was just trying to help," he stated as he put his hands up in defeat. He didn't notice it at first, but before hand, he had slowly moved closer to her, and then when she pushed him back, he actually did back up a little.

Margaret sighed. She knew that he was only trying to help. It was just hard to let someone in on everything that was going on in her life. She did want him there though. "Alright Pierce, you can come," she said. She was hoping that he noted her use of his last name, taking it that she was simply allowing him to come as a comrade, not a close friend.

Hawkeye did note the use of his last name, but he didn't know what to think of it. For a little bit there, she had been calling him Hawkeye instead. It didn't truly matter though, he was going with her tomorrow, and that was all that did matter.

O o o o o

The next day the two arrived in court. Almost silently, the two walked in together, and then parted as he went off to sit in one of the empty seats in the back while she went and joined her lawyer at the table.

Margaret sat there and thought about what was happening. The more that she did think about it, the happier she was that Hawkeye was there with her. Acknowledging him, she looked back at him and then mouthed out a small thank you. She received a smile in return and then turned back as soon as Donald and his lawyer walked in together. They greeted each other and then went on.

After all had been said and done, Donald ended up getting half the money from the account which was the original plan. Margaret was mad about that, but there was nothing she could do about it, and the last thing she wanted was to make it so that she would have to be with him more than she had to.

The two lawyers congratulated each other and walked out which left Margaret and Donald sitting with each other. "Well, looks like you won," she said bitterly as she stood up.

"You know, we don't have to go through with this," Donald offered as he stood up.

Margaret froze and looked up to him. "What do you mean?" she suspiciously questioned.

"I mean if you give me another chance I," he started but was cut off by Margaret.

"Another chance! Donald, you broke my heart and ruined my life! I never want to see you again," she nearly yelled.

Hawkeye, on instinct, jumped up and grabbed her shoulder. He knew that she was about to get out of control, and wanted to prevent anything bad from happening. "Come on, let's get out of here," he offered.

"Who's this? Your boyfriend?" Donald angrily asked.

"You have the nerve to ask about my loyalty?" Margaret asked, taken aback by his nerve and stupidity. "No he's not! Unlike you he was here for me," she answered bitterly.

"It was only the one time!" Donald argued, trying to defend himself. "Besides, it's not like you ever stuck with the same person or more than week before we were married," Donald remarked. He knew very well what he was doing, and wanted to push her over the edge.

Margaret's eyes widened and she punched him. "I've had enough for today," she said and then looked over at Hawkeye. "Come on let's go," she said with annoyance.

Margaret stormed out of the room. Hawkeye stayed back a moment and looked to see if Donald was alright. It didn't really matter to him, it wasn't like he was about to go help him. Instead, he wanted to see if Margaret hit him hard enough.


	8. Hidden Feelings

Chapter 8: Hidden Feelings

Margaret and Hawkeye were in the plane to go back to their unit. The day had been long. Each of them had been going over what they had to do once they got back to camp. Hawkeye had to go on Post Op, and Margaret had to catch up on some paper work. Things would finally be going back to normal for them, no more of this Donald nonsense that had been going on. The papers were signed and everything was settled, not all she had to do was move on from him.

Margaret looked over to Hawkeye, who was sitting next to her and by the window. "I'm sorry for being irritable lately," she apologized.

Hawkeye smiled at her. "It's okay," he responded.

"What you have done means a lot to me," she went on to explain. She wanted him to know that. He was the first person to actually care about her and what happened to her.

Margaret didn't hear a response so she looked over to him, and found that he had fallen asleep. "That's okay," she said to herself with a smile and then leaned her head against his shoulder.

"I love you too Margaret," he mumbled in his sleep.

Margaret quickly sat up. Looking over to him, she waited a moment and then sat back in her seat. Those were not the words that she had been waiting to hear.

O o o o o o o o o

A half hour passed. During that half hour, Hawkeye slept and Margaret sat there wondering what he had meant when he said that he loved her too. Yes, she was aware that he was asleep, and there are a lot of things that he could have been dreaming about, and that there were other people named Margaret in the world. Just because she heard him say something, didn't mean that it had to be about her.

Once they got to the airport, they got a jeep. It was about twenty minutes into the ride that Margaret decided she had better confront him on what happened. "Hawkeye?" Margaret nervously started.

"Yes?" he cheerfully responded.

"Why did you do all of this for me?" she asked. It didn't matter to her if there was an ulterior motive here, because she knew that it would have been because of feelings he had for her, that was nothing to be ashamed of. She just wanted to know whether or not she was being paranoid.

"I don't know," he answered.

Margaret was bothered by the way that he didn't really think about his answer. It was too casual for her. "Pull over for a minute," she instructed as she motioned to the side.

"Oh, Margaret you sneaky little thing you," he said playfully.

"Grow up Pierce! I want to talk to you," she snapped. This was not the time to be messing around. There was something important that she had to talk to him about and she wanted to get it over with. Talking to people about personal things was not her strong point.

"Okay!" he rose his voice. He didn't expect her to snap like that. Following her orders, he pulled the jeep over and then looked to her. "Yes?" he questioned.

Margaret huffed. "I need to know why you did all this for me. I mean I've turned you in, ran complaints against you. And then you turn around and do all this for me, I don't understand," she explained.

Hawkeye took in what she had said and then nodded. "Let me put it this way. Remember all those times I insulted you?" he implored.

Margaret nodded in response. "Yeah, and Frank was too chicken to stand up for me," she remarked.

"Well, if I had done that to you for a whole day what would you do?" he questioned.

"I'd be furious with you," she answered.

"But, what if that same night I got a call telling me that me father was killed?" he asked.

Margaret sat and thought for a moment. This was going somewhere that she wasn't about to like, she could just feel it.

"What would you do?" Hawkeye asked her.

Margaret shrugged. There was an obvious answer, so she figured that she would just go ahead and give him that one. "I'd tell you that I was sorry about his death," she answered.

"And why would you do that?" he questioned, hopping that she wouldn't take this the wrong way.

"You're being nice to me out of pity?" she hissed, finally understanding why she didn't like this line of questioning. "Listen, I don't need any one to feel sorry for me. Especially you Pierce!" she sternly stated.

"It's not because of that! For some reason I seem to care a little," he informed her.

His reaction made her sit back and think about it through a bit more. Those words, he used. He said that he cared a little. They sparked her interest. "How much?" she inquired, looking him straight in the eyes.

"What do mean how much?" he asked, shrugging off the importance that she had placed on the question.

"How much do you care?" she repeated herself.

Hawkeye sat back and sighed. "I don't know." he confessed. "Why?"

Margaret looked down and nodded in disappointment. "Nothing," she answered, attempting to cover up her desire to know.

Hawkeye sat there and watched her as he tried to understand what that little interrogation was about.

Margaret forced a small smile to him. "Thank you," she said, almost out of nowhere.

"What?" he questioned, looking to her in disbelief. This conversation was going somewhere, he had just gotten lost along the way and was having a horrible time trying to catch up to it.

Margaret focused her attention back to his eyes. "Thank you," she said again.

This time, Hawkeye got caught up in her gaze and gave up on trying to analyze her words. He decided that the only thing that was truly important right now, was that she was thankful, and he was the cause of some of her happiness right now.

The two sat there and stared into each others eyes and then finally leaned in and kissed each other.


	9. What Should Never Be

Chapter 9: What Should Never Be

Hawkeye had returned from the trip and walked into the swamp. On his way over to the still to grab a drink, he spotted B.J. sitting on his cot reading a book. B.J. suddenly looked up and saw Hawkeye standing there.

"How'd it go?" B.J. asked examining his face. He could tell right away that it wasn't great, but he still wanted to hear about it.

"Horrible," Hawkeye answered as he poured himself a drink. "First she lost, then he asks for a second chance, then he calls her bimbo," he answered and then sat down on the cot.

BJ set his book down and sat up. "Jeez. How'd she take it?" he asked.

"She punched him," Hawkeye replied.

"Serves him right," B.J. remarked.

"Yeah," Hawkeye absently answered. He was still trying to figure out what Margaret was trying to say when they stopped on the way back. After a moment of thinking, he looked down at his watch and realized that he actually had a few hours before he had to do anything. "I'm gonna go to the Officer's Club okay?" he said and then left.

B.J. nodded and then watched as he left and then turned and looked at the picture of Peg and Erin together and sighed as he slightly smiled. Then he reached for paper and a pen and started writing.

_Dear Peg,_

_I miss you and Erin. I miss how you were always there when I needed you and your smile. I miss everything about you. But most of all I miss the way you were with Erin. I don't think that there ever was a more perfect picture. I just want you to know that I'd never do anything to ever hurt you in any way. I wasn't writing this because I was thinking of cheating. I just got done watching some one's marriage go down the drain because of how much the one hurt the other and I just never want that to happen to us. I hope this war is over soon so that I can see you and Erin before she turns twenty._

_love,_

_B.J._

He put the letter down and sighed.


	10. Just Be Honest

Chapter 10: Just Be Honest

Margaret sat there in her tent, alone with her thoughts. The bracelet that Hawkeye had gotten for her was currently around her wrist. It was one of the best gifts that she had ever received from anyone, not because of it's price or how pretty it was, but because he got it because he knew that it meant something to her.

Was he trying to tell her something with that gift? It was a gift that Donald would never get her, and within the same day of telling Hawkeye that, he shows up with it. What was he trying to tell her?

_"I thought it was beautiful, but Donald said it was too expensive for me."_

_"Everything has gone wrong for you the last couple of days. I'm sorry. Remember that bracelet you liked? I think you deserve it."_

_"I love you Margaret," he mumbled in his sleep._

"Because some how I care!"

Trying to distract herself from her thoughts, Margaret walked over to her dresser and began to brush her hair. She was interrupted with a knock at the door. "Come in!" she called out.

Hawkeye walked in and sat down on her cot. It took her a moment before she turned to him. He waited though. This was a discussion that was going to need her full attention.

"What do you want?" she questioned.

Hawkeye quickly thought of a better way to start out. "I wanted to know how you were doing. A lot happened today," he explained.

"I'm fine," she answered and then turned back towards her mirror. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You don't always have to hide things from me," Hawkeye stated.

"What do you mean?" she sternly implored.

Hawkeye rolled his eyes. This was going to lead to a fight, a fight that he honestly did not want to have right now. "I mean that every time something bad happens to you, you like to pretend that it doesn't bother you," he explained, trying his hardest to remain calm.

Margaret harshly set her brush down on the table and quickly wheeled around to him. "Maybe because it doesn't! You ever think of that!"she tensely asked, beginning to raise her voice.

That was it, there was going to be a fight and there was no use in trying to avoid it. Quickly, he shot up. "You mean to tell me that you catch your husband with some one else, lose his baby then get a divorice and lose half your money to him while he's bad mouthing you that you're not bothered at all!" he asked, nearly yelling.

Margaret was a little shocked by his reaction, but hid it as she stood firm. "I've have never been open about my feelings. Why should I start now?" she questioned.

"Because you have some one that'll listen," he answered after calming himself down.

Margaret stood there and watched him, as if she were actually considering what he had said to her. He got his hopes up too soon though. Instead of saying anything, she turned back to the mirror.

"What are you afraid of? We've all got our own problems over here," he asked as gently as he could at the moment. He was frustrated, but he knew that getting worked up would only make things worse.

"None of your business," she answered, although not as sharply as she had originally intended to be.

"There you go again. Shutting every one out that is willing to try to help you," he said, throwing his hands up in defeat.

"Why would you care?" she demanded as she turned back to him.

"Oh no. I just got yelled at for that conversation. To make it short it's not out of pity, I just care for some reason," he argued.

"You never the answers I'm looking for do you?" she softly asked before turning her back to him again.

"I don't know what to say to you Margaret! I try to be nice! I try to help out but you keep shutting me out!" he angrily confessed. He was starting to get tired of even trying anymore.

"I don't talk because I don't trust anyone!" Margaret finally admitted.

Hawkeye's expression instantly softened with concern. "What?" he questioned.

Margaret lowered her head as she remained facing the mirror. "When I was growing up my parents were never there. Then when ever I made friends I either moved or they betrayed me! The only one I could ever trust was my little sister Maria! But she was five years younger than me. Then I had Frank who I later couldn't trust and then Donald who I trusted. What do you think happened to him?" she explained.

"What do you thinks going to happen after you talk to me?" he asked.

"I don't know," she answered in defeat.

Hawkeye nodded and then proceeded to approach her. "What's been bothering you?" he questioned. Maybe this time, he could finally get an answer out of her.

"You said something in your sleep that made wonder," she replied.

Hawkeye tried to think back to something that he could have said that would have upset her this much, or caused her to be so suspicious. "What did I say?" he cautiously asked.

Margaret slowly turned back to him. "You said you loved me," she stated.

Hawkeye stood there frozen. "Oh," he responded.

"Do you?" she questioned.

Hawkeye just stood there. He knew he wasn't, but he felt as if he were being cornered. "I don't know," he answered.

"I was open to you, now be open with me," she requested.

Hawkeye just stood there, thinking of what to tell her. A blank expression remained on his face.


	11. What's Hard To Admit

Chapter 11: What's Hard To Admit

Hawkeye stood there dumbly as Margaret stared at him. He knew that she was starting to get impatient as she started to urge him with her eyes. It was hard though, this was not an easy decision to make on the spot. "I don't know," he sighed in defeat.

"What do you mean you don't know! I finally open up to you, which might I add I never do, and I ask you how you feel about me and you say that you don't know?" she yelled getting annoyed.

"Hey! I'm trying but I can't just randomly on the spot say that I love some one to their face when I'm not even sure of it!" he answered then sat down on her cot. Letting out a heavy sigh, he calmed himself down and then calmly looked to her. "I just don't want to tell you something that I'm not sure of."

Margaret looked over to him, and just stared for a moment. Suddenly, she understood what she was doing. He had given her both the time and space to figure out how she felt and what she wanted to say, and here she was demanding him to spill his guts at a moment's notice. "You're right. I'm sorry. I'm use to getting simple yes or no questions," she stated as she went and sat down next to him.

"Well you usually ask simple questions. You also always seem to get the simple questions to," he explained.

"You've got to understand. My life revolves around the army," she said, looking down towards the ground.

"That's it!" Hawkeye exclaimed standing up. Those were the very words that triggered it, he knew why this was so hard for her now, and wanted to somehow fix it.

"What?" she questioned, jerking her head to him.

Hawkeye positioned himself right in front of her. "Who told you your life revolved around the army?" he implored.

"That's just how I was raised," she replied, shaking her head and looking back towards the floor. She felt that this was about to be pointless.

"Exactly! And why do you have to marry some one that out ranks you?" he asked. He was starting to get wound up at this point.

"I don't see where this is going," she admitted. Starting to get irritated, she stood up and steadily paced towards her dresser.

"I'll tell you where this is going. You have never made one important decision for yourself!" he harshly announced.

Margaret's eyes widened as she quickly wheeled around to him. "What do you mean?" she snapped.

"Listen to yourself! I volunteered because that's how I was raised. I only date men who out rank me because that what my daddy wants. He makes the important decisions that you should be making for you!" he informed her, with his voice steadily raising.

"That's impossible Pierce! I've made plenty of important decisions for myself!" she argued.

"Your dad chose your college, career, life, goals, and who you can marry! Now I don't know about you but those are pretty big decisions and I don't know if I could handle getting those chosen for me," he stated, trying to get her to see exactly how much she has lived off of other people's dreams and desires.

Margaret stood there at loss of words. She wanted to tell him that he was wrong, she wanted to name off everything that she chose for herself, but she couldn't and it only made her more frustrated. "Get out Pierce!" she angrily ordered.

Hawkeye's frustration was only fueled by her anger. "Admit it! Your dad made all those decisions. I think it's time you made some on your own. And the first one would be who you can love," he stated.

"I told you to get out!" she yelled.

"Fine! But call me when you start making decisions on your own!" Hawkeye yelled before leaving and slamming the door on his way out.

Margaret just stood there and watched him leave. She didn't stop him, nor did she disagree with what he had said. Closing her eyes in attempt to calm down, she sat down on the edge of her cot and thought back to what her father had told her after she had gotten out of high school.

_"Now Margaret. I don't care if you want to marry Brad. Tomorrow we are going to search for a college for you and as soon as you get out I want you to volunteer to be a nurse in the army. No exceptions."_

After remembering that day, she thought back and reflected on what Hawkeye had told her. He was right.

O o o o o

Hawkeye walked back over to the swamp and sat down in the chair by his cot. The place was silent as he looked over and saw his friend reading over a letter that he had gotten from back home.

"Beej?" Hawkeye called over to him.

"Yeah?" he responded without taking his eyes off the letter.

"How did you know that you were in love with Peg?" Hawkeye asked.

BJ looked up to him with surprise. "What?" he questioned.

Hawkeye sighed. He knew that he wasn't going to get an answer that easily. "While on the plane Margaret heard me tell her that I love her in my sleep. Now a few minutes ago she was wanting to know if it was true and I didn't know what to tell her," he explained.

BJ just shrugged. "Sure seems like you do," B.J. casually responded.

"What do mean?" he asked. He had expected more of answer than that. There had to be more.

BJ finally set the letter down and turned to give him his full attention. "Come on. You have been with Margaret just about every minute since that one time she came back from Tokyo. You care about her. You would've known that if you saw the way you reacted to her collapsing in O.R. Face it you care," B.J. said.

"Now all I need to do is ask myself. How do I feel about Margaret?" he asked himself.

_"Fine. You wanna hear it! Ohho, you'll just love this one. I go there to meet with him, we don't know we're staying in the same hotel and I see him kissing a girl good bye right outside of his door. There! You happy now!" she yelled close to tears. Out of embarrassment, she turned away from him and casually walked towards her dresser with a few of her shirts, as if she were just putting them away.  
__Hawkeye's face softened. "No. No I'm not happy," he replied as he began walking towards her.  
"Why not? You got your story," she bitterly responded.  
"Yeah, but it didn't have a happy ending," he explained._

Suddenly, there was an announcement that there was wounded. On instinct, they both shot up. Hawkeye started for the door, but he soon noticed that Margaret wasn't with him. He turned back and_ saw her standing in her same spot, steadying herself on the table.  
"Hey, you okay?" he asked with concern._

"Margaret, Margaret! I need sponges!" Hawkeye urgently ordered.  
Margaret let out a moan before collapsing right onto the floor.  
"Beej! Finish up for me!" Hawkeye anxiously called out across the room.  
"Okay," BJ answered. He quickly finished up and then looked to Kelleye. "Kelleye could you close up for me?" he requested. As soon as she took over, he rushed over and took over for Hawkeye.  
Hawkeye knelt down beside Margaret and picked her up and carried her over to an empty bed over in Post  
_Op. He began to check her vitals as her eyes started to flutter open. She could feel herself beginning to cramp and looked to with fear in her eyes._

_"Look, I may not be the father if there is a baby but she's going to be there alone and I am concerned," Hawkeye said._

_Margaret looked over to him. "I lost it," she sadly announced.  
Hawkeye looked down and nodded. He had a feeling that she did. "I'm sorry," he said. Looking over, he saw the flowers and grabbed them to hand to her. "I picked up something for you."  
"Thanks," she said taking the flowers. "They're lovely," she commented, trying to smile. While looking at them, she noticed the envelope and pulled it out. When she opened it, the first thing to stick out was the card. "I know everything has gone wrong for you and I am sorry. Remember that bracelet you saw on the way here? I think you deserve it." she read out loud. She then looked in the envelope and pulled out the bracelet. "Thank you, it means a lot to me," she said, smiling at it._

Hawkeye sat there, not able to do anything about the situation that she was in. He could tell her that it was going to be okay, but that wouldn't mean anything now. Right now, he was doing all that he could do, be there for her. This right now was the first time that he_ saw the tears actually fall from her eyes. Leaning over, he embraced her. He held her as she cried. It didn't fix anything, but it let her know that she was not alone.___

"I was wondering if you wanted me to come with you," he asked putting a hand on her shoulder from behind.

"It's not because of that! For some reason I seem to care a little," he said.

Hawkeye wearily looked up to BJ. "I love Major Margaret Houlihan," he announced.

BJ just nodded and smugly smiled. He had already known the answer a while ago.


	12. All I Have To Say

Chapter 12: All I Have to Say

Hawkeye sat on his cot and stared dumbly. It shouldn't have hit him as hard as it did, but it did. They were his own words, a small revelation to himself.

"Oh, come on Hawk, that's not news. The only thing that's different is that you've admitted it to yourself," B.J. explained.

Hawkeye sighed. He knew what he had to do now. "Yeah but now I have to go tell Margaret that," he said.

BJ shrugged. "So? I think you already did that on the plane didn't you?" he questioned. To him, this wasn't really that big of a deal. The two had already gone through all the actions. Saying the words shouldn't change them that much.

"Yeah. But that's different, I wasn't aware of it," Hawkeye argued as he stood up.

"Whether or not you tell her I think she's going to figure it out sooner or later anyways," B.J. responded.

"Maybe, but she still wants an answer," Hawkeye said as he began to pace the tent.

O o o o o o o o

Margaret sat over in her tent. She knew that there were feelings between her and Hawkeye. There was something there. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, they were different towards each other. A few months ago, this all would never had happened.

A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts. "Who is it?" she called out.

"A doctor with an answer," Hawkeye called back to her from the other side of the door.

There was a hesitance as Margaret got up to go answer the door. She already knew who it was, and quite honestly was not ready to talk to him. She forced herself to though. She stood off to the side and opened the door, allowing Hawkeye to walk in. Quickly, she closed the door behind him and stood there with her arms folded. Waiting.

Hawkeye steadied himself. The look on her face told him right away that he wasn't exactly welcome there at the moment. "You wanted to know how I feel about you, but I can't just answer that in one word. When you came back from Tokyo I felt hurt by how hurt you were and when you collapsed I was scared to death for you and the baby. Not because I was the father or because I had to, just because it was yours. And I felt happy when you got divorced because I felt happy because you had a look of relieve. And I didn't feel to bad when you hit Donald either,"

Margaret's expression softened as soon as she heard him start talking. His last comment even made her chuckle a bit. The only thing that kept her mostly quiet though, was the tone of seriousness on Hawkeye's face as he watched her. He was getting ready for the next part.

"Margaret Houlihan," he nervously started. "I love you," he announced.

Margaret stood there speechless. There were only a few times in her life in which she had heard someone say that to her, and they meant it. Right now, she knew that this was one of those times. At the moment, she couldn't figure out how to even react to it. She didn't know if she should be happy, or if she should be scared or maybe even angry because of how long he took to say it to her. "I...I...I don't know what to say," Margaret nervously replied to him.

Hawkeye gave her a slight smile. This was twice as hard for her as it was for him. "You don't have to say anything. I think now maybe I should let you be alone to figure all this out. I'm gonna be in the mess tent if you need me," he said then left.

"I love you too," Margaret breathed out after he had already gone.


	13. One Shot

13 One Shot

Everyone was in O.R. They had been in surgery for about three hours now.

"Alright, close up for me," Hawkeye said to Gwen as he went to change his gloves.

"How many more?" Potter called out.

"One more sir," Klinger called out. He was wearing a white nurse suit with a purple and red cape and white high heels.

The last one was a North Korean. He was brought in and put down infront of Hawkeye. He had a shot in his right arm.

Margaret came over to put him to sleep. She came over and started to kneel beside him. The man started to yell something in Korean.

"No no. It's okay!" Margaret tried to say so he would have a little understading of what was going on.

The man started yelling out of fear. Margaret stood up and let the man alone.

"I, I won't hurt you! No hurt," she tried to explain while trying to act it out.

The man stopped yelling and just watched everyone nervously.

He sat up and Hawkeye instantly tried to pin him down on the table but as soon as Hawkeye put his arms out the man grabbed a gun.

"Whoa!" Hawkeye yelled putting his arms up and stepping back.

The man sat up and looked around as everyone stopped and watched him. He looked around for the one who wanted to put him under. He slowly got up off the table and walked to Margaret and pointed the gun at her. Margaret froze. Hawkeye looked and ran towards her and pushed her out of the way as the gun was shot. B.J. and Klinger grabbed the man as he shot and knocked the gunn out of his hand. Potter went over to Margaret and put his hands on her shoulders as she stood there in shock.

"My God," she quietly said seeing Hawkeye unconsience on the ground in a puddle of his blood.

Klinger and B.J. exchanged nervous glances.

"Okay open up a table if possible!" B.J. called out.

Hawkeye was carried onto an empty table. Margaret watched with fear as they started to operate.

"Maybe you better wait outside," Potter suggested to Margaret.

"Okay," she said and then turned and left.


	14. Finally Realizing

14 Finally Realizing

Margaret waited outside while they operated on Hawkeye. She nervously paced the room. She picked her hand up and looked at the bracelet.

"He loved me, and now because of me he could be dead in there." she said to herself.

She looked up and saw Radar's poetry book sitting on the table.

"Well, it's better then thinking about him dying," she said getting and walking towards the table. She picked up the book and randomly flipped to a page and started to read out loud.

"Through early morning fog I see visions of the things to be," she said then paused.

"That's not to bad," she commented then continued, "the pains that are with held for me. I realize and I can see that suicide is painless."

"Never mind," she said in defeat closing the book.

Margaret put the book down and went back to pacing. Potter came out and she stopped and looked at him.

"The bullet hit a main artery in the neck. We did the best we could. Now all we can do is wait. But the longer he is asleep the more of a chance of death," he said.

"Thankyou," she said.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" he asked.

"I think I'd just like to be alone right now," she answered.

"Okay, I'll be in my office if you need anything," he said.

"Thankyou sir," she said.

Margaret went back to her tent. She sat on her cot and looked at the bracelet. A tear went down the side of her cheek as she stared at her bracelet.

A few hours later Margaret went back over to see how Hawkeye was doing. She walked in and looked at his chart she looked up from it and saw him just laying there. Margaret put down the chart and looked around and went to his side and knelt down. She gently took his hand.

I know you can't hear me. Or maybe you can. I don't know. Anyways what you did for me today. I don't think anyone has ever done anything like that for me. Thankyou," she said then lightly kissed his cheek.

Hawkeye began to stir a bit. Margaret just watched him to see what was gonna happen. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around. It took him a minute to realize what was going on.

"Hi Margaret," he said weakly.

"You saved me," she said smiling.

"I remember that. What ended up happening to him?" he asked.

"They sudated him and finally got him under," she explained.

B.J. walked in and saw Hawkeye and Margaret talking and went over to them.

"Hey, Hawkeye you're up. How are we feeling today?" he asked.

"Tired," he answered.

"Better then dead," B.J. answered.

He looked over at Margaret and then at Hawkeye.

"I think I'll leave you two alone," he said.

"You were worried weren't you?" he asked smiling smugly at Margaret.

"Why would you say that?" she asked.

"First off the way you haven't let go of my hand once since I woke up," he said causing Margaret to let go.

"Second, the look you had on your face when I woke up," he said.

"Alright I was worried," she admitted.

"Hawkeye?" she asked.

"Yes?"

"I love you to," she said.

Hawkeye sat up as much as he could and Margaret got up and sat on the bed with im.

"When you saved me I could tell you really did love me and then when you spent hours in here I realized I loved you because I didn't know how I was going to get through the rest of the war without you, or maybe even my life for that fact," she explained.

The two looked into each other's faces and started kissing. The others in the room started cheering. The two ingored the crowd and kept kissing. They had both realized how much they really needed each other.

Three monthes later...

The mess tent was decorated with flowers and streamers. Mararet and Hawkeye were standing across from each other holding hands.

"Do you, Benjamin Pierce take Margaret Houlihan to be your lawful wedded wife? For better or for worse? In sickness and in health? Say I do," Father Mulcahy said.

"I do," Hawkeye said smiling.

"And do you, Margaret Houlihan take Benjamin Pierce to your lawful wedded husband? For better or for worse? I sickness and in health? Say I do," Father Mulcahy said.

"I do," she said smiling.

"You may now kiss the bride," the father said.

Hawkeye and Margaret kissed.

"I now pronounce you man and wife," Father Mulcahy announced.

Hawkeye and Margaret walked out hand and hand happier than they had been in a long time. Especially Margaret, for her love never came easy but this time nothing seemed to be wrong.


End file.
